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Composer and multi-instrumentalist Angélica Negrón was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 1981 and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Interested in creating intricate yet simple narratives that evoke intangible moments in time, she writes music for accordions, toys and electronics as well as orchestras, ensembles, films and ads. Her music has been described as “wistfully idiosyncratic and contemplative” (WQXR/Q2) and “mesmerizing and affecting” (Feast of Music) while The New York Times noted her “capacity to surprise” and her “quirky approach to scoring”. She was recently selected by Q2 and NPR listeners as part of “The Mix: 100 Composers Under 40” and by Flavorpill as one of the “10 Young Female Composers You Should Know”. She was recently featured in Kaufman’s Center “Ecstatic Music Festival 2012” celebrating adventurous young composers.
Angélica has been commissioned by MATA Festival 2011, janus trio (New Amsterdam Records), and toy pianist Phyllis Chen (for the “Look and Listen Festival 2011”), among others, and has recently written the score for the feature length film “Los Condenados” as well as original music for clients such as Coors Light, Pan Pepín, Verizon, Tylenol and the Ovation Network. She frequently collaborates with the experimental theater company from Puerto Rico Y No Había Luz writing music for their plays, which often incorporate puppets, masks and unusual objects.
A long time member of the Puerto Rican underground music scene, Angélica is a founding member of the electro-acoustic pop outfit Balún where she sings and plays the accordion and violin. With her project Arturo en el Barco she concentrates on working with lo-fi ambient compositions and has released albums on Observatory (Austria) and Carte Postale Records (Belgium).
Angélica received an early education in piano and violin at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico where she later studied composition under the guidance of composer Alfonso Fuentes. She holds a master’s degree in music composition from New York University where she studied with Pedro da Silva and is currently pursuing a doctorate in music composition at The Graduate Center (CUNY), where she studies with Tania León. She has received grants from Meet the Composer (MetLife Creative Connections Program), Foundation for Contemporary Arts (Emergency Grants) and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, among others.
Also active as an educator, Angélica is currently working as a teaching artist for the New York Philharmonic and The Little Orchestra Society, and co-founded with Noraliz Ruiz the Spanish immersion music program for young children ¡Acopladitos!. She has contributed as a writer to the International Alliance of Women in Music Journal and the British magazine The Wire. She recently joined the faculty for “Dan Zanes House Party”, a new initiative by the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music for kids 8 months to 4 years. Angélica was a composer fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival 2011 and was recently selected as a featured Ableton Live artist. Her music is published by Good Child Music.
The Fellowship, established in 1999, offers a comprehensive and multi-faceted program that equips emerging composers with the full range of professional skills and tools necessary for building a successful career as a composer of orchestral music.
ACO’s Van Lier Fellowship gives young composers the opportunity to work with ACO artistic and administrative leadership in honing their professional skills, participating in planning educational activities and performances, serving as liaison with student composers, and enhancing their professional careers by immersing themselves in the professional environment of ACO over the course of an entire season. The fellowship is designed to provide a career-development bridge between a young composer’s training at the University or Conservatory and the world of the professional orchestra.